Alleged Shooter Still at Large

June 11, 2014

Steubenville Police are looking for Tahj Jackson, 23, in connection with a shooting at Heritage Place apartments on Market Street on Monday, as well as a vehicle in which police believe he fled.

Three people were shot, including a father and his 5-year-old son who were bystanders, police said. The victims were hit in the leg with bullets that ricocheted, police said. The father, Guillermo Hernandez, 35, of 815 Market St. was taken to Trinity Medical Center West, where he was treated and released, while the son, Cruzito Hernandez, was transported to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. The son also was later released from the hospital, police reported.

The intended victim of the shooting, Torrance Lyda, 21, of Steubenville was hit multiple times with bullets and flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital. Police reported Lyda went through surgery and remains in critical condition.

Police Chief William McCafferty said detectives were working on a motive in the shooting. Jackson is expected to be charged today with three counts of felonious assault. McCafferty said at least 10 shots were fired.

This is not the first time shots were fired at Lyda. Multiple shots were fired at Lyda and a group of men who were walking in the 800 block of South Street on Sept. 3.

Lyda was charged with having a weapon as a convicted felon in the case and was sentenced on May 6 to serve six months in the Eastern Ohio Correction Center. He was scheduled to report to the center on July 1.